Foreign News: How to Convince Skeptics

West Germany's Chancellor Konrad Adenauer had gone along with the West's
rebuff to Russia's offer of a united "neutral" Germany (TIME, March
31). Now he had to convince a skeptical Bundestag.

Adenauer's favorite argumentthat German independence and security can
be had only through integration with the Westno longer sufficed.
Socialists and even members of his own coalition pointed out that the
Russian offer promised not merely independence, but a reuniting of East
and West Germany.

Adenauer maneuvered adroitly. To take the edge off opposition charges
that he is putting integration ahead of unification, he...